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How to Keep Friends Safe During the #BackToSchool Season

Heading back to school is awesome – you get to reconnect with old friends, see who changed the most over the summer, and rekindle relationships. Texting makes it easy to stay in touch with both old and new friends – but texting while driving is also a dangerous temptation especially among teenagers.

That’s why AT&T is encouraging Android and BlackBerry users to download the free DriveMode app this back to school season to help curb the temptation to text while driving. But we know not everyone is going to use the app. That’s why last month we introduced a social tool, “#X”, a natural way to notify friends you are checking out before you get behind the wheel. We’re encouraging teens to enter “#X” to end their text, email and social conversations before they start their vehicles.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to do this so you can help keep yourself and your friends safe this Back to School season:

For iOS:

Open Settings, Scroll to and select General

Scroll to and select Keyboard, then select Add New Shortcut

In the Phrase field, type the phrase you’d like to create a short for, such as “#X I’m about to drive. Will text you when I’m done!”

In the Shortcut field, type “#X”. Select Save on the top right

For Android

With the Google keyboard already open on your screen, long-press the microphone button for the settings icon, then tap on the Google Keyboard Settings.

Select the Personal dictionary and then select the + icon in the top right.

Enter a long phrase like: “#X I’m about to drive. Will text you when I’m done.”

For your shortcut text use: "#X"

If you have multiple languages set up, you may want to change the language dropdown to target all languages.

Hit the back button.

#X is the next step in the It Can Wait movement, and now aims to curb the behavior that leads to texting while driving. So show us how you use #X! Join the conversation via Twitter at @ItCanWait, @ATT, and @ATTLatino, and via Instagram at @ATT. And this back to school season, remember that no text is worth a life!

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